Jose Sarney

Jose Sarney (24 April 1930-) was President of Brazil from 21 April 1985 to 15 March 1990, succeeding Joao Figueiredo and preceding Fernando Collor de Mello. He was a member of the PMDB party.

Biography
Jose Sarney was born in Pinheiro, Maranhao, Brazil in 1930. Originally a member of the nationalist National Democratic Union founded in opposition to Getulio Vargas, during the years of the military dictatorship (1964-85) he became governor of Maranhao (in 1965) and a member of the Senate. In 1985, when the military returned power to democratic government, he became the running-mate of Tancredo Neves, who was elected President. However, Neves died before taking office, so that ironically Sarney, a protege of the military regime, became Brazil's first guarantor of democratic government after 21 years of military rule. Unable to tackle his country's crippling economic, financial, and social problems, he made them worse through his indecisiveness. Inflation soared from 227% in 1985 to almost 1,500% in 1990, while GDP per capita remained stationary overall. He was unable to renegotiate the country's enormous foreign debt, which was the highest in the developing world. Finally, he failed in his attempt to carry out a reform of labor representation to destroy its neo-corporatist structures and make the labor market more dynamic and flexible. He left office in 1990, and he became an infamous oligarch.